A year has gone by after the carnage in Mumbai that left over 190 people dead and hundreds injured. In the immediate aftermath of 26/11, articles were written about the gaping holes in India’s internal security preparedness.

Of the recommendations made, Manmohan Singh’s government chose to make the establishment of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) central to its response to the holes in India’s internal security preparedness. To be sure, the establishment of the NIA was an important move, because it addressed Centre-State jurisdiction issues that hitherto plagued the CBI.

However, the NIA’s mandate notwithstanding, nothing in public domain indicates any significant activity in the NIA, until 11 months and two weeks after November 26, 2008, when the NIA belatedly sprung into action, based on inputs from the FBI on David Headley and Tahawwur Rana.

In addition, by virtue of design, the NIA mostly addresses post-incident investigation and forensics. Manmohan Singh’s government articulated little by way of detective and preventive enhancements to India’s internal security preparedness.

The bigger picture that needs to be examined on the first anniversary of 26/11 isn’t necessarily about specific structural and organizational changes, but about the government’s willingness (confidence?) to make public aberrations in its response to the terror attacks and how these can be addressed.

In the year following the World Trade Center attacks in the US, the Bush Administration constituted the 9/11 Commission to examine aspects of US’s response to the attacks as they unfolded, and make recommendations on how the US should proceed, going forward. The US Department of Homeland Security was born out of these recommendations.

India deserved its 26/11 commission with a limitless mandate to examine our response to the attacks in Mumbai. Key aspects of the events of 26/11 require independent review.

These include incident-specific issues relating to governance and leadership such as (a) How long it took to notify key stakeholders, such as the Prime Minister, NSA, intelligence services and ministers of Home Affairs and Defense, (b) The time it took for the relevant stakeholders to coordinate and assess the situation, (c) How long it took to authorize deployment of anti-terror units to the scene, and (d) Crisis management — who was coordinating what aspect of India’s responses.

The second aspect of the commission’s review should have entailed structural and organizational changes and enhancements, including those previously discussed. Sadly, this government does not have the gumption to constitute such a comprehensive review of its responses to the 26/11 attacks. This isn’t an assailment of the the UPA administration, it is an indictment of India’s petty political environment.

There are critical aspects of the attack that require further analysis — aspects that India is still uncovering, including the roles of Headley and Rana — and questions that no one seems to be able to answer, such as how a bunch of semi-literate people alien to Mumbai, were able to negotiate their way through the city’s conspicuous and inconspicuous landmarks, without local assistance.

This cannot be accomplished by adhocism or through token responses, such as establishing the NIA and deploying the NSG in some cities. One would have thought that the time was ripe for such a bold response, faced as the UPA is, with an ineffectual, embattled Opposition. Sadly, barring a few cosmetic rearrangements, not much has changed in India, and no one, least of all Mumbaikars seem to care.

We’re fast approaching the end of 2008, and it is customary to a look back at the year. 2008 was the year of rebates and debates, of bailouts and sellouts. In 2008, pigs accessorized with lipstick, surges worked, several people participated in waterboarding (some albeit involuntarily), and the fundamentals of our economy were deemed to be strong. Natural disasters claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in Cuba, China and Myanmar. Businesses around the world collapsed and unemployment rates in industrialized nations crossed 6% for the first time in decades. In India, the lady from Rome did little the ease the miseries of the common man, and the Home Minister, like Nero, played the fiddle while the country burned.

Thankfully, there were the few welcome moments that diverted everyone’s attention from the forgettable events that have consumed us in 2008. The Beijing games were one of the better Olympics in recent memory; that China was able to undertake and successfully execute such a massive project should be an inspiration to other developing nations. Barack Obama’s election in the United States means that there will be responsible leadership at home, and consensus driven decision making when it comes to America’s foreign policies.

But without further ado, here now are the “bouquets”….

Bouquets

Hemant Karkare, Maj. Sandeep Unnikrishnan, other martyers who laid down their lives to defend India in the face of a series of unprecedented assaults. The “Do Nothing” government did, well, nothing to provide the equipment, training and funding necessary to counter the enemy. If the National Security Guards were able to flush out the terrorists in three days, it wasn’t because of the government’s involvement, it was despite the government’s involvement. This UPA administration has the blood of 160 citizens on its hands.

Somnath Chatterjee for standing up to the despicable tactics of Prakash Karat and his band of merry Commies and executing his duties as Speaker of the Lok Sabha. The scheming Left has shown yet again that it puts Party diktat and anti-Americanism over the rule of law and the country’s democratic process. With the nail firmly entrenched in the coffin of relevance, the CPI(M) can go back to being the trivial jokers they always were, and the nation will be better for it.

The Faceless, Nameless Gulf Laborer who is sandwiched between several devils and deep seas, but continues to toil for his family in conditions of virtual slavery. His day involves at least 12 hours of finger to bone work building extravagant skyscrapers and artificial islands, under the wrath of an unsparing sun. He is a victim of immoral agents in the subcontinent, construction companies in the Gulf, and their patrons in the palaces of Dubai, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, and Doha. He lives in total squalor, shares accommodation with several other construction workers, and remits 60% of his income back to his family in Nizamabad or Haripur, if he should be so lucky as to be paid his wages once in seven months.

The Fab Four of Indian Cricket — Ganguly and Kumble hung up their spurs in 2008, each a true champion in his own right. Ganguly will be remembered as the man who gave Indian cricket its swagger, and Kumble as the workhorse who ground many an opponent to the dust. Although a forgettable year for Rahul Dravid, felicitations are due for becoming only the third Indian batsman to have aggregated 10,000 runs in Test cricket. Speaking of great aggregators, a tip of the hat to Sachin Tendulkar as well, who, by becoming the highest run scorer in Test cricket history, owns just about every batting record there is in Test and One Day cricket.

Sam Manekshaw and Baba Amte, RIP This year’s Vijay Divas (December 16) had special meaning as India lost a true Son of the Soil in Field Marshall Sam Manekshaw. Thirty seven years ago, this bahadur orchestrated the dismemberment of the Pakistan Army and liberated Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) from the clutches of cowards who engaged in state sponsored genocide against Bengalis. Another great Son of Bharata was laid to rest this year — Baba Amte, whose social service and fight against leprosy lead to the establishment of several rehabilitation ashrams in the country, at a time when those afflicted with the disease were ostracized by society.

Madhavan Nair, Mylaswamy Annadurai, and ISRO Thirty-three years after Aryabhata, and twenty-four years after Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to travel in space, ISRO successfully launched India’s first lunar probe, Chandrayaan-1, on a shoe string budget ($80 million).

Other honorable mentions:Indian Premier League (I know purists called it a farce and a bastardization of cricket, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, despite being a fan of the Bangalore Royal Challengers); Muntadar al-Zaidi (of “Shoegate” fame — say what you will, Peyton Manning couldn’t have thrown better spirals); Katie Couric (for flat out owning the train wreck that is and was Sarah Palin).

Brickbats

And now for the not-so-fabulous. This year has been very ordinary, by every standard, so shortlisting the most truly repugnant characters was not an easy task.

Corporate Executives, Investment Banks, Realtors, Richard Fuld, Bernie Madoff, et al: How the mighty have fallen…and have dragged us down with them in the process. As I write this, B-Mad, who swindled the world off of $50 billion, is cooling it at his crib — yes, he’s under “house arrest”. That seems a little extreme…why don’t they just give him $100 billion from the bail-out money and send him on an all expenses paid vacation to Maui. It’ll do him some good…help him take his mind off the little “pickle” he’s in.

Prakash Karat and the Red Army Prakash Karat is the kind of guy who could give the Bush Administration lessons on being incompetent. The CPI(M) has never done anything, couldn’t do anything even if it wanted to, and has never been right on anything. Yet, the chest thumping campaign since 2005 would have you believe that they lead the UPA coalition. Brinda Karat is so annoying, her bindi looks like bullseye. Two states that they do have power in — Kerala and West Bengal — are suffering from chronic mismanagement. Kerala’s State Domestic Product relies mostly on remittances from NRIs in the Middle East, while trade unionism has run Kolkata’s once strong public sector economy to the ground.

United Progressive Alliance Where do I begin? From the veritable Dick Cheney-like Party leader, to a comatose Prime Minister, to five years of vision and leadership deficit, to pandering to the Communist agenda, to a fundamental mismanagement of the nation’s security apparatus, this UPA government has run my country to the ditch. No one cares about India any more. It’s always about brown-nosing to some community or the other, or some regional political party or the other. Why can’t a nation of one billion produce leaders that have better scruples than Sonia Gandhi, Advani and Mayawati?

Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga Unfortunately, moral bankruptcy among leaders in the developing world isn’t the exception, its the norm. When Kibaki and Odinga tussled, the political vacuum created a free-for-all in Kenya that resulted in about 2,000 deaths and the displacement of about 250,000 people. Human Rights Watch blamed Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party for targeting Kikuyus in the Rift Valley, including killing 30 unarmed civilians at a church. With the power-sharing agreement, which made Odinga the Prime Minister of Kenya, and Kibaki the President, all seems to be well in Nairobi. Things aren’t so well though for the hundreds of thousands of Kenyans who still remain without shelter or food.

Indian Media: Just how the Indian media manages to churn out third rate programming day after day is beyond me. In between the 10 minute commercial breaks, the twenty seconds of actual “news” programming is fraught with newscasters who can’t read or speak English. Why every news report must sound like a trailer for The Matrix, I don’t know. The sensationalism, the shrill pitches, the purposeful misrepresentation of facts, the chest-thumping nationalist rhetoric…the media claims it’s watching over India’s politicians…but who’s watching over the media? The Sardesais, the Goswamis, the Dutts, India’s media universe is replete with a satanic herd of yellow journalists. They are “newsmakers” in the most literal sense — the just make stuff up as they go along.

Arundhati Roy This storybook writer fancies her ability to break down and analyze “root causes” of many of India’s problems. In the wake of the Gujarat riots, she extended a heartrending apology, that wasn’t hers to tender, to “victims” who hadn’t actually been victimized. And now she wrote this swill, a 5,300 word blathering piece of an essay, where she blames everyone and anyone for the Mumbai attacks, except of course, the 10 terrorists and their sponsors in Pakistan. She even takes issue with everyone’s favorite (“news anchor”, “journalist”; insert noun here, I’m not quite sure what he does on Times Now) Arnab Goswami, for calling her “disgusting” on air. She calls this an “incitement” and a “threat”. Of course, Arundhati is not one to personally attack anyone herself. She wouldn’t have, for example, called Ramachandra Guha a “stalker” for merely pointing out that her analysis of the Sardar Sarovar dam issue was unoriginal. Would she? In 1997, Roy said “I had two options — writing or madness”. Well, Arundhati, this 5,300-word equestrian excrement of an article may have spared your sanity, but you haven’t made any such accommodation for the poor bastards that are subjected to it.

Rapid Fire: Raj Thackeray and his ilk (where were you when your city needed you most?); Russia (military interference in Georgia, economic muscle flexing against Ukraine…Big Red is back); AR Antulay (what a waste of space); and Robert Mugabe (who won’t be satisfied until he squeezes every last pumping drop of life out of the Zimbabweans) .

In the first part of this two-series article, I reviewed the government’s response to the November 25, 2008 Mumbai Terror Attacks, specific intelligence and coordination failures between State and Central agencies and armed forces, the political fallout in the aftermath of the attack, and the government’s responses to addressing an impotent internal security apparatus. In this article, I will examine what needs to be done by the government of India if it wants to demonstrate that it is committed to securing the lives of its citizens.

In response to the terror attacks, the Indian government is planning to increase the headcount of the National Security Guard (NSG) and establish centers in Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai. The second item on the government’s plan of action involves establishing a Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) along the lines of the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Based on the “Combating Terrorism” report issued by the Second Administrative Reforms Committee, the FIA will be established as an agency of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and will be responsible for investigating federal crimes, including organized crime, terrorism, sedition, trafficking in arms and human beings, etc.

What else can India do? The past couple of days have made it particularly painful to watch Indian news channels or read Indian newspapers. Uninformed jingoism, poor grammar and unhinged newscasters have made following the coverage of the aftermath truly agonizing. On Times Now, for example, I was never quite sure if I was watching news coverage of the terror attacks or a trailer for Mission Impossible IV. If the media is to be believed, the Indian army is about to launch punitive assaults on Pakistan any time now. I hate to break this to them, but their mouths are writing checks their government can’t cash. India will not fight Pakistan, because to do so would be to write your own death certificate, along with that of Pakistan’s. Does this mean we lie down and take a kicking? Not necessarily. If India is serious about the security of its people, here are things that it should do: